FACTS ABOUT DUST COLLECTION

FACTS ABOUT DUST COLLECTION

OVERVIEW

If your dust collector does a better job of distributing wood dust throughout your shop than actually collecting dust, a new dust bag could solve your problems. The woven fabric bagsgenerally supplied by a machine’s manufacturer are, at best, a compromise. Openings between the threads that are large enough to pass air efficiently also pass dust with equalefficiency. A tighter weave may trap smaller dust particles, but will also restrict airflow,creating backpressure and reducing suction substantially. The solution is to replace wornand ineffective OEM bags with larger, optimized felt dust bags.

INCREASING EFFICIENCY

The size of the breather bag is critical to your dust collector’s performance. In anundersized bag (or typical OEM bag) the greater air pressure forces fine dust to penetratethe fabric’s fibers causing “blinding” and preventing the free passage of air. In an optimizedfilter, however, the dust-laden air escapes over a sufficiently large surface area, allowingthe dust to enter, slow down, and fall, rather than being driven into the fabric. By using theproper air-to-cloth ratio for your collector, it is possible to achieve filtration of dust particlesdown to 1 micron.

ADVANTAGE OF FELT FABRIC

For wood dust we most often recommend polyester felt with a singed finish. Felts arepreferred for filtration due to their high breathability, fine particle separation, and excellentdust cake build/release properties. Singed felt allows a very thin layer of fine dust particlesto collect and build on the surface of the bag. This “dust cake” then does the actual filteringof subsequent dust blown into the bag and prevents the bag from blinding. When the dustcake becomes heavy, it sloughs off the surface of the bag and leaves behind a thin layer tocontinue this self-cleaning process, thus the filter maintains high airfl ow and allows yourcollector to work at its full capacity.

Call, fax or e-mail us for a no-obligation evaluation of your equipment's performance and a free quote.